I bought a PGM30 off fleabay about 2 years ago for a really good deal cause the clearcoat was peelin off the f-holes. I played it a little at first and it needed a setup, but soon slipped it into the closet because of other guitars I bought. Recently I have sold just about everything except this PGM because my roomate ended up with it and I kind of forgot about it. Anyways, I took off the neck to do some pocket sanding cause the neck wasnt sitting level. When I took it off, its painted a metallic red in the pocket . Next I took off all the covers and under the trem its painted the same sparkle red. Same deal with the plates on the back, its all red sparkle finish. The red paint looks real high quality and not cheap. Next I pulled out the pickups to see if any model numbers were there and found none. The plates are waxed, but no numbers. The neck is definetly original, but as far as the body goes, I have no clue. Heres a picture of the paint:
Have you scraped any of the red off to see if there's another coat of paint under it? The only CA red, tremolo equiped, PGM is the 400. But, it has a vintage style, two point non locking tremolo. I'm assuming this does have a lo trs, locking tremolo. --Jason
Under the red is wood, and it does have the lo trs which is being replaced by an edge this week. Got one off the bay for $48. I did a fret job today and leveled everything, so even if its a mystery, the guitar sounds and plays amazingly. The weird thing too, is the center pu is actually a pretty high output like a chopper I had on another RG. The red paint in the neck pocket looked alot like the red CA, the picture doesnt show how it really looks in person. Im startin to think it was a factory screw up and was painted first for a 400 or 500. Another thing too, is the neck had some epoxy on the edge as if it wasnt a perfect fit.
Alder is usually darker, grainier and has strange sort of striations like worming across it - Basswood has a nondescript pale even grain, often with strange greenish tints to the wood - neither really qualify as "pretty" timbers!
Crazy stuff, were the trems even gold on those things? I don't think so. Almost sounds as though it's one that somebody has cobbled together because the F-holes certainly shouldn't peel off like that.
As far as I'm aware the f-holes on a PGM are made with spray (ie masked off in the painting process) and they aren't stick on decals that peel off.
I think you need to investigate further as this guitar seems to be one of those "partsocaster" jobs.
As far as I'm aware the f-holes on a PGM are made with spray (ie masked off in the painting process) and they aren't stick on decals that peel off.
I think you need to investigate further as this guitar seems to be one of those "partsocaster" jobs.
The holes were painted black and I removed what was left because it was chipped and the white underneath was staring to show. I was originally going to get some abolone sheets and do an inlay in the holes.
That's what I thought, plus the fact that it'd of been clear coated anyway. And again, a little research shows the TRS trem was black not gold. This sucks for you mate, I'm not 100% saying it's a fake or anything but it's starting to look that way.
The thing is, who knows what goes on in the Korean factory? Maybe they painted it the wrong color at first, maybe someone who worked there was doing a self custom and got caught then arrested, who knows, there could be a million explanations, they don't exactly have the best quality control in some of those places - I've seen it in the Korean factory for the company I work for.
It certainly looks like a legit Ibanez body from the pics, the fake ones you see on evilbay are obviously different. I got a PGM30 before with a crappy string thru TRS thingy, so people change the bridges on those all the time. They are INF pups and cosmo pups rings, so those things are correct. I say just strip the whole thing and make yourself a unique guitar out of it, or do what you were saying, do an inlay f-hole, that would be pretty cool.
When you took the neck off, was the whole neck pocket area painted, or was the center part natural where a model number stamp would originally go? I've got a theory. Rarely, when one is repainted does that area get masked back off. If that was all painted, I'd be willing to bet that the original white paint was stripped, and the body was resprayed CA red. Then, either because of a painting disaster, or the original owner changed their mind and wanted it white again, it was painted white without stripping the red paint. But like Dave said, who knows what could have happened at the factory. Has the headstock been refinished too? Maybe signs of red under the lock nut, or tuner washers? Does it have a MIK or MIJ serial number? --Jason
When you took the neck off, was the whole neck pocket area painted, or was the center part natural where a model number stamp would originally go? I've got a theory. Rarely, when one is repainted does that area get masked back off. If that was all painted, I'd be willing to bet that the original white paint was stripped, and the body was resprayed CA red. Then, either because of a painting disaster, or the original owner changed their mind and wanted it white again, it was painted white without stripping the red paint. But like Dave said, who knows what could have happened at the factory. Has the headstock been refinished too? Maybe signs of red under the lock nut, or tuner washers? Does it have a MIK or MIJ serial number? --Jason
I think youre right about what did happen. The neck pocket had paint that I did sand down. The first thing I did was look for a number but could not tell before or after sanding. The neck has no eveidence of ever being repainted. I have looked under the tuners(not original, from a BC Rich) and the lock nut and its all original paint. Theres even a nick on the headstock that goes into the primer and its black underneath.
The serial is Korean (C 5024708) and maybe a 95? Heres a pick of the headstock with a small nick following the logo underscore line:
Thinkin about just sanding the whole thing down. The wood actually doesnt look all that bad. I might do a natural finish with some abolone veneer f holes. Once I do the routing for the edge trem, Ill probably start sanding the body. One good thing is that the clearcoat and paint is coming off very easily and wouldnt be that bad of a project. I have already sanded and refinished 2 RG's this year and it wasnt fun. The wood looks alot tanner and more uniform than the other guitars I sanded that were basswood. The wood looks the same under the other f hole too, its not like the other bodies I did that had mismatched patterns all over.
The sealer they use is kind of milky yellow looking stuff. I've also used some Dupont sealer/primer that is that same color of yellow. Until you get it knocked down it's hard to say what lies beneath. At least it looks like it's coming off easy.
Basswood is sometimes not the best wood for a natural finish. Sometimes it's got an almost green cast to it. Since that's a MIK PGM30, I'm not sure I'd hold out much hope for a quality piece of wood under all that paint. --Jason
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